Is using a kick drum as a bass drum wrong?

Jameson D

Member
i'm broke.

I dont have a bass drum. i tuned a big ole kick drum really low and i hit it with a soft marimba mallet. lol. is that illegal?
 
Isn't a kick drum another term for a bass drum? I am confused.
ig it could be. i mean kick drum as in from a drum set, and bass drum as in concert bass drum.
 
ig it could be. i mean kick drum as in from a drum set, and bass drum as in concert bass drum.
Oh, I see. I suppose if it makes the thump n boom you need, then you can do whatever you want.
 
Kick drum became a term because there isn't a lot of room for words on a mixing console. Bass guitar got to stay as bass. Bass drum became kick.

For a long time, there wasn't even much difference between the construction of a concert or kit bass drum.
 
Hey, Chris Slade always has bass drums mounted so he can hit them with sticks.
 
I'd submit that nothing is "wrong" in drumming if you can make it work. "Necessity is the mother of invention" applies here, as does Theodore Roosevelt's imperative, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." The resourceful find ways to achieve. That's why they make history.
 
BTW, even as a bass player, I still hate it when it's called a kick drum. I'm not kicking it. If I did, I'd put a hole through the head and probably cause it to fly out into the audience.
 
Sometimes when I play standing up acoustic gigs I use a djembe as a bass drum.

Whatever works for your situation.
 
Is using a bass drum as a kick drum wrong?

They're the same thing. Tuning, muffling, genre are the differences.
 
Years ago I played in a community concert band for quite a while. My 22" Slingerland "kick" drum was the band's "bass" drum.
 
So you have a kit bass drum and want to know can you use it as a concert tom. Yes with right heads, tunings, mallets and getting it up waist high or so- just take off legs and any mounts and maybe a portable luggage stand would hold it to height. Nothing in it .
 

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I think the kick drum got its name because you had to actually kick it before the advent of kick pedals. The name caught on in the recording scene, to differentiate it from the bass guitar with the shortest name possible. Why it became heavily stigmatised in the drumming circle I've no idea.
 
I'd submit that nothing is "wrong" in drumming if you can make it work. "Necessity is the mother of invention" applies here, as does Theodore Roosevelt's imperative, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." The resourceful find ways to achieve. That's why they make history.
And you, my friend, are our esteemed mouthpiece on the glory of drumming.
 
And you, my friend, are our esteemed mouthpiece on the glory of drumming.
You're really far too kind. I'm hesitant to accept that towering title, but I do appreciate the charitable gesture, as I have great respect for your posts as well.
 
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